Samuel Frederick Smith is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure’s breakthrough single “Latch”, which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart.
Smith’s debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour, was released in May 2014 on Capitol Records UK. The album’s lead single, “Lay Me Down”, was released prior to “La La La”.
The album’s second single, “Money on My Mind”, became their second number-one single in the UK.
The third single, “Stay with Me”, was internationally successful, reaching number one in the UK and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, while subsequent singles “I’m Not the Only One” and “Like I Can” reached the top ten in the UK.
The album won four awards, at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.
What is special about Sam Smith?
His openness about his sexual orientation and gender identity has made Smith an icon in the LGBT community. He is one of the first stars to speak openly about identifying as gender fluid.
Sam Smith occupies a rare position among male pop stars seeing female singers as his primary influences. He has mentioned Adele and Amy Winehouse as having the most significant impact. He says that he only listened to female singers while growing up.
In October 2017, Smith came out as genderqueer, saying, “I feel just as much a woman as I am a man” and speaking of a period in their youth where they “didn’t own a piece of male clothing and would wear full makeup while attending school”.
In September 2019, they announced a decision to come out as non-binary and change their gender pronouns to they/them, stating, “After a lifetime of being at war with my gender I’ve decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out…”
Smith is the godparent of a close friend and collaborator Jimmy Napes’s son. They identify as a feminist. They have struggled with body image issues since their preteen years and have been open about this in interviews.